Polpourri: Kent County Republicans round up votes one dollar at a time

First Mackinac Island, now Kent County. When straw poll results were reported from Kent Republicans “Big Party” on Thursday, Rick Snyder came out on top with 44 percent. Mike Bouchard scored 29; Pete Hoekstra had 22; Mike Cox — the only candidate to attend — notched 3.5; and Tom George, 0.91 percent.

What does it all mean? Money for the county party. The vote is a fund-raiser. If you spend $20, you get 24 votes; $5 gets you six votes and $1 buys you one. Nothing wrong with that, says Snyder’s chief strategist, John Yob. “Candidates who are successful in straw polls tend to have the resources to get their message out on TV, and tend to have the ground troops to run a successful door-to-door and voter outreach campaign.”

GRASSROOTS POLITICS
Grand Rapids commissioners just said no
When Grand Rapids city commissioners passed a six-month moratorium on the dispensation of medical marijuana Tuesday, 2nd Ward Commissioner David LaGrand was assigned to introduce the measure.

The image-conscious politician and former prosecutor made sure to set the record straight. As a young man who knew he might someday run for office, LaGrand assured everyone he has never touched the drug.

First Ward Commissioner Walt Gutowski Jr. put everyone on the edge of their seats with his response: “I never intended to run for office, and I’ve been in a band all my life,” he declared. “But I’ve never touched the stuff, either.” Other commissioners chose to keep their pasts to themselves.

JURY DUTY
An offer of Supreme help

Wayne BentleyGrand Rapids City High School teacher Wayne Bentley’s insights about how minorities can be systematically excluded from jury pools may be part of the U.S. Supreme Court’s hearing next year on Diapolis Smith’s 1993 murder conviction.

Smith, who is black, contends the all-white jury that convicted him was not a jury of his peers. Bentley, whose students have been researching minority representation on juries for more than a decade, has detected subtle ways jury pool selection yields a smaller percentage of minorities than in the general population.

Federal attorneys on a recent case in which Bentley was called as an expert witness encouraged Smith’s attorneys to consult with Bentley, who gives props to his charges. “There’s no way I could have compiled all that data without the hard work of my students.”

FUNDRAISERS
Dillon will help Dillon
Michigan House Speaker Andy Dillon, who may be a candidate for governor by then, will headline a local fundraiser for County Commissioner Brandon Dillon, D-Grand Rapids, Dec. 10. (note: they are not related.)

Also on hand will be state Sen. Jim Barcia, D-Bay City, for whom Brandon Dillon works as chief of staff. Barcia will bring some labor cred to the event, since the speaker is hardly the darling of the MEA and other unions, especially since trotting out a plan to pool all state employees in one insurance program.

Still, that’s some heavy artillery for a county commission race. Rest assured, Brandon Dillon has his eye on the 75th state House seat occupied by fellow Democrat Robert Dean if Dean runs for the state Senate.

TALKING POLITICS
Podcast includes an interview
Gubernatorial candidate Rick Snyder answers some questions on this week’s Talking Michigan Politics podcast. Hear the interview and more discussion of the governor’s race at blog.mlive.com/talkingpolitics.